House Pride (wasRe: Sorting Hat (was: muggle baiting...)/Arthur is right or not?

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 156057

> Potioncat:
> I agree with Alla, but with a twist. I think the four Houses
"should" be valued equally. All of them have virtues and qualities
that are important. It could be hoped that every student has qualities
of each house. 
> 
> But even though McGonagall says, "Each house has its own noble 
> history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards." I 
> don't think she means it. I'm pretty sure that JKR doesn't mean it. 
> Or rather, she silently adds, "but Gryffindor has the best and the 
> most." 
> 
> This is a case where I disagree with the author. Not so much that I 
> don't enjoy the story, and that I don't cheer for courage. I think 
> every student must think his house is the best one of the four. I 
> think every student must cherish her own house qualities.
>

Carol responds:
There's no question that JKR favors Gryffindor given her interview
comments, but I do think she tries to show its imperfections,
especially through Sirius Black, who represents (IMO) an unthinking,
reckless sort of courage (which he also attributes, rightly or
wrongly, to James Potter: "The risk would have made it fun for him").
Oliver Wood is a variation on the same type; for him, Quidditch is
everything, and he takes great risks to insure that his team wins. And
Peter Pettigrew was a Gryffindor, the only DE Gryff so far, but proof
in himself that not all DEs are Slytherins and not all Gryffindors are
good. 

Personally, I was glad to see Romilda Vane and Cormac McLaggen in
HBP--not because I like them (I don't), but because they were
unattractive people--both of them pushy, self-centered, and not
exactly ethical--yet they were placed in Gryffindor (as was Percy,
whom I have more affection for because of the affection he displayed
for Ron after the Second Task). And the person who seems to me the
ideal Hogwarts student--intelligent, brave, loyal, hard-working,
capable of leading or following with equal grace, was Cedric Diggory,
a Hufflepuff.

So, yes, JKR places her favorites (or most of them) in Gryffindor, but
I think that, like the Sorting Hat which is forced to "quarter" the
students every year, she believes in unity for Hogwarts, a concept
that she highlighted by giving "The Sorting Hat's New Song" its own
chapter in OoP.

I hope and expect to see the four Houses, or at least their
representatives, working together in Book 7--HRH, Draco, Luna, and
Zacharias Smith all contributing in some important way either to the
Horcrux hunt or to the fight against LV. And, I confidently expect, a
certain Slytherin former professor will make an indispensable
contribution that will cause Harry to reassess their whole shared history.

Carol, who wanted Theo Nott to be the Slytherin who helps Harry but
has almost given up hope for him